The Meaning of "Sephiroth"
 
    "At the Creation," explains Kabbalist spokesman Steve Edelman, "God sent 
out a pulse of energy into the void.  It presently branched and sorted into 
ten distinct spheres or aspects, corresponding to the numbers 1-10.  These 
are known as the Sephiroth.  To return to God, the soul must negotiate each 
of the Sephiroth, from ten back to one.  Armed with magic and faith, 
Kabbalists have set out to conquer the Sephiroth.  Many Kabbalist secrets 
have to do with making the trip successfully.
     "Now the Sephiroth fall into a pattern, which is called the Tree of 
Life.  It is also the body of God.  Drawn among the ten spheres are 22 paths.  
Each path corresponds to a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and also to one of 
the cards called 'Major Arcana' in the Tarot.
     "Some Sephiroth are active or masculine, others passive or feminine.  
But the Tree itself is a unity, rooted exactly at the Bodenplatte.  It is the 
axis of a particular Earth, a new dispensation, brought into being by the 
Great Firing."

_Gravity's_Rainbow_, Thomas Pynchon, p. 753